Hyderabad: Six children were burnt with heated spoon by ayahs of a state-run Shishu Griha as punishment for not wanting to eat dinner five days back. Three of the little children, all less than five years old, had blisters on their hands from the branding.
The staff of the home concealed their barbaric act for four days. However, the incident came to light on Wednesday when a regional language newspaper carried a story based on CCTV footage leaked by one of the workers of the home. The three children whose burns were quite serious are Geeta, Rajan and Swaroopa. They were admitted to the district headquarter hospital and discharged in the evening. The other three had minor burns. Eight abandoned children are housed in the Shishu Griha.
CCTV footage showed that ayah K. Padma burned the hands of the six kids as they did not want to eat dinner on April 15. Another ayah, D. Buchamma, heated the spoon on a stove and handed it to Padma while a third ayah, Sharada, remained a mute spectator to the barbaric act.
Action only after CCTV images leaked
Upon learning about the incident, Collector Neetu Prasad inspected Shishu Griha and expressed her anger against the staff of the home and supervising officials. She then served a show-cause notice on ICDS project director Vijayamohan Reddy for his apathy in supervising the home.
The three ayaas, social activist Sri Latha and manager of the home, Babu Rao, were sacked for their role in the incident. Based on a complaint by the project director, Karimnagar II Town police registered a case against Padma and Buchamma under Section 324 of IPC (voluntarily causing hurt) and Section 75 and 85/2015 (cruelty to children) of the Juvenile Justice Act.
CCTV grabs show how one of the employees heated a serving spoon, which she then used to hurt the children.
But it has emerged that the inmates are paying the price for apathy of officials who are by rules required to supervise the functioning of Shishu Griha. Inmates are often subjected to corporal punishments and are starved of food and water, thanks to lack of constant monitoring by officials concerned. The branding incident has also exposed how safety of abandoned children being housed in State Homes is at stake. The authorities were simply not aware of the branding incident even after four days it happening.
They did not even take action against the culprits even after being informed by employees of the Home. They responded only when the CCTV footage was leaked to the media, sparking outrage across the country. ICDS PD Vijayamohan Reddy was immediately served a show-cause notice for his negligence in dealing the issue.
The three Ayaas, social activist and the manager of the home were immediately sacked from services for their role in punishing the six children.
Abandoned by their parents
“Madam scolded us,” all three children jointly said after being asked what had happened. The kids could not explain how much they were hurt when the ayaas branded with hot steel spoon on their hands.
Below five years of age, Geetha, Rajan and Swaroopa were unable to express the agony they had undergone. All they could recall was they that were scolded by their ‘madam’ when they did not want to eat on that day. The said they had applied ointment on the burns. Geetha joined the home after being abandoned by her mother. Swaroopa’s father is serving a prison term for killing his wife and Rajan meanwhile is here as his father married another woman.
